U.S. District Judge strikes down indefinite detention provision

September 13, 2012

New York: On September 12, 2012, Judge Katherine Forrest of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York stuck down a section of the National Defense Authorization Act for 2012 that would have allowed the government to indefinitely detain a "person who was a part of or substantially supported al-Qaeda, the Taliban, or associated forces." Forrest ruled the law unconstitutional for violating First Amendment rights to free speech. In May of 2012, she had ordered a temporary injunction against the law; this was her final ruling.

In her 112-page opinion, Forrest explained,

“

First Amendment rights are guaranteed by the Constitution and cannot be legislated away. This Court rejects the Government’s suggestion that American citizens can be placed in military detention indefinitely, for acts they could not predict might subject them to detention.

”

The judge explained that the law does not specifically define what it means for a person to have "substantially supported" terrorist groups and that, legally, the support of such groups could not justify the detention of a citizen. She noted that, though the executive branch was responsible for national security, the courts were responsible for guarding against such infringements of Constitutional rights.

The plaintiffs' lawyer, Bruce Afran, called the law "a very extraordinary attempt by the government to provide punishment for speech." The U.S. Attorney's office had no comment. The case is expected to be appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit.